PASSENGERS OF MOSCOW - BARNAUL FLIGHT GOT OFF LIGHTLY

NOVOSIBIRSK, February 27. (RIA Novosti correspondent) - The passengers of the aircraft which made an emergency landing in Novosibirsk continued the flight on a reserve aircraft of the Sibir air company. A representative of Tolmachevo airport said that the airplane left Tolmachevo airport of the largest city of the country's Asian part for Barnaul, the administrative centre of the Altai Territory in the south of Western Siberia, at 6.00 a.m. Moscow time.

A Tu-154 aircraft of the Sibir air company made an emergency landing at 3.35 a.m. Moscow time because of a malfunction of an engine. The aircraft which was making a flight from Moscow to Barnaul was carrying 103 passengers and 10 crewmen.

The representative of Tolmachevo airport explained that "an hour after the departure from Domodedovo airport of Moscow a sensor showed that a metal chip had got into one of the engine's oil." "The crew decided to switch off the faulty engine and to continue flying on two other engines. The crew decided to head for Novosibirsk to make an emergency landing because the landing strip at Tolmachevo airport of Novosibirsk is 740 metres longer than in Barnaul," the airport personnel explained.

The aircraft landed safely, no one was hurt.

The aircraft with a faulty engine will remain at Tolmachevo airport until the causes of the malfunction are found out.